


the reality of everything

by WhatsATerrarium



Series: The Craziest Board Game of 1973 [2]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M, Flirting, Grief/Mourning, Oblivious, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21516148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsATerrarium/pseuds/WhatsATerrarium
Summary: Written for an old tumblr prompt.Eiffera- Things you said when we were the happiest we ever were.
Relationships: Doug Eiffel/Hera
Series: The Craziest Board Game of 1973 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1732729
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	the reality of everything

**Author's Note:**

> Let’s hear it for the resurrection of the Eiffera fan base, baby!

Long strands of hair float softly around him. She likes watching him float here like this, completely at peace. Sometimes she counts the strands of hair on his head. She could run a scan if she really wanted to, but counting each one individually seems to calm her.

The transmission from that night had been turned down low, playing softly in the background as he attempted to hum along awkwardly. Of all the words programmed into her system, she’s not sure any of them work perfectly to describe the way that his smile is different from anything she’s seen before.

“Hey, baby?”

“Yes, Officer Eiffel?” The response is programmed into her, a knee jerk reaction. She envies his voice, it’s soft and unbothered ny static or glitches, it’s real in a way Hera doesn’t think hers ever will be. She hates her voice sometimes. It isn’t really hers. This is the voice someone else gave her, a voice she’s borrowing.

“Talk to me?”

“Why?”

“I, um…” he sighed, “just bored, sweetheart. Read anything fun lately?”

Her reply is, yet again, almost instant. “I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river, to me you're everything that exists; the reality of everything.”

There’s a moment of silence as he tries to register the quote. She likes the way he looks when he’s thinking. Despite how they all may joke, he does think, and he has an absolutely beautiful mind. “Who wrote that one?”

“Virginia Woolf.”   
  
“Hm. Never read much of her stuff.”

“I like the love stories.”

“Awww. That’s… actually a bit adorable.” He smiled. He used to read love stories all the time. He’d go through them one after the other. Right up until the other kids started making fun of him. He hadn’t touched a romance novel in years.

“Officer Eiffel? Are you okay?”   
  
“Hm? Uh, yeah why?” He snapped out of his head quickly.

“You just seemed, I don’t know, distant.”

“Just thinkin’, sweetheart. Hey… Hera?”

“Yes?”

“Are…. can you… are you  _ programmed  _ to…. Y’know...?”

She could see it coming. She knew what he was going to ask. The only problem was, she wasn’t entirely sure the answer.

“...Love?

She was fine with not knowing.

“I care about you. I care about Commander Minkowski. I  _ care  _ about you both… but… Romantic love? I have no idea. I don’t know  _ what  _ I’m programmed to do, to feel.” She paused. “I-It’s never happened before though. I’ve never heard of an AI being romantically interested in a human.”

“Who said anything about a human? Hera, you sly dog, you. I’m flattered.”

“I-” she giggled. “Well, Doug, what can I say? You are hard to resist.”

He let out a faux disappointed sigh. “I thought you really cared about me, and here you just wanted a bite of this.” Doug shook his head. “It’s the curse of an amazing ass.”

“I’d say you’re just a piece of meat to me, but you are  _ technically  _ a piece of meat.”

__ “You sure know how to make a boy swoon.” His smile could practically light up the room. “I should probably turn in.”

“Goodnight, Officer Eiffel.”

“Night, sweetheart.”

She keeps replaying the conversation in her head.  _ Flirting.  _ That’s the only word she can find in her database to describe it.

Weeks after that she keeps replaying the conversation in her mind. The only thing she can think about is how stupid she was in that moment.  _ Yes. You moron, you can feel it. You’ve been feeling it. You’ve been loving him every day, you weren’t paying attention, you absolute idot.  _

__ She likes to pretend that she had known it then. Because that memory is now one of the purest things she can remember. She wants it to stay that way. She doesn’t want her last happy memory of him to be tainted with her confusion and indecisiveness. She wants one thing that can bring her joy, and right now it’s the way they talked then, not a care in the world.

_ You fool. You saw him everywhere. In the stars, in the river. He was everything that existed to her. Douglas Eiffel was the reality of everything. _

__ Douglas Eiffel was the reality of everything, and now he’s gone. All she has left are the memories of the things he said to her then. She wished she had a chance to answer that question.

**Author's Note:**

> So a big reason why I don't usually leave comments is that it doesn’t feel like a conversation, it feels too definite. So, as opposed to asking you to leave comments (which I do still very much appreciate and will respond to if that’s your thing), I’m going to let you know how to contact me!
> 
> Instagram: whats_a_terrarium  
> Discord: whats_a_terrarium#0251  
> Tumblr: whats-a-terrarium  
> Twitter: whatsaterrarium
> 
> If you have any thoughts, ideas, constructive criticism, or just want to ramble, never hesitate! :)


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